Warning message

For a better experience on New Zealand, enable JavaScript in your browser.

Balkasar bakes for bears

25 January 2019

We're getting abused bears back to health with delicious treats

Mealtime means great food and big excitement for the rescued bears at our Balkasar sanctuary in Pakistan. Before coming to Balkasar these beautiful bears were not only cruelly set upon by dogs for people’s entertainment, but they were also fed appalling diets by their impoverished owners. This has caused them terrible health problems.

Thankfully, your support helps the dedicated Balkasar team nurse them back to health. Your generosity means the bears have the best diet possible – high-quality fruit, vegetables and other foods grown in the surrounding villages and at Balkasar.

Giving bears the nutrition they need

New to their menu are some amazing treats – biscuits made from a special recipe full of vitamins and nutrients personally devised by Dr Fakhar Abbas, founder of our partner organisation Bioresource Research Centre of Pakistan (BRC). These tasty treats are loved by the bears. They are packed with chickpeas, black and green grams (beans), red and brown lentils, rice barley sorghum, millet, pearl millet, maize, wheat and sugar cane.

“He jumps up and down with joy at the smell of them coming. This is in addition to his usual food which he also guzzles down with his whole heart.”

She also tells us Anokha, who arrived at the sanctuary in November 2017, was very fearful and his legs were quite weak, but he is doing well now. “He’s a very happy bear indeed and he really likes having people around him. He’s very friendly with the staff and with the other bears too.”

Image: Anokha is recovering well and is a big fan of the nutrient-packed Balkasar biscuits